Recommend me some PSP games

So with the pending release of the Vita, I ended up buying a PSP yesterday for $75. I know there is a large number of good games, and I'd like to hear some of your top recommendations. If I can download the game off the PSN it'd be best, because then if I eventually get a Vita it will transfer over.

My current list of games I have searched through and am interested by:
Final Fantasy Crisis Core
Final Fantasy Tactics: War of the Lions
Dissidia
Duodecim
Both Star Oceans
Phantasy Star Portable 1 or 2 (or both?)
Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together
One of the Monster Hunter games (whichever you guys say is the best, unless they are all worth getting)
Assassin's Creed: Bloodlines
Valkyria Chronicles 2

I know this is probably a good list, but any recommendations as to NOT get from this list, or that trump games on this list... or just comments on games from my list would be helpful!

THE JACKEL

Do not buy bloodlines. It honestly has almost no story and has only about 3 hours of gameplay, after which you will spend your time in 5 very small walled off areas looking for coins. not a very good game.


kh bbs is good
ff cc
tactics war of the lions
little big planet psp
gpsp (psp signed gba emulator)
monster hunter freedom unite (way hard game)


THE RABBET

FF type 0

Ff type o isn't out yet
ok so no assassins creed.

so should i only get monster hunter freedom unite, or should i get monster hunter freedom 2 as well.

THE JACKEL

I dont know, I have only tried freedom unite.
other games that are good are
Dissidia duodecim (includes both games)
secret agent clank
warriors orochi
warriors orochi 2 (actually bigger than the xbox 360 version)
lame craft signed download.

THE RABBET

>>> Castlevania: The Dracula X Chronicles, it has "Symphony of the Night" included (and this time you can play with Maria too).. :luca:

and "Valkyrie Profile Lenneth" I`ve tried to get this one but is difficult to find..

Crisis Core's a great game, and despite its flaws (and there are a few), I recommend it for everyone.

It has a fair replay value, but the thing that sucks about that is that you can't skip the cutscenes or any dialog in them, and there are a ton of cutscenes in that game, so while you're playing through again, don't be surprised if you find yourself just walking off and doing something else while a cutscene going. It's seriously that bad.

The story's also pretty linear, and there never seems to be a good, designated time to do any side quests; you pretty much judge for yourself and just abruptly stop doing whatever the story has you doing so that you can take care of any side quests. There's really only one side quest, and it's just 300 missions, and I guarantee you: it takes longer to complete those missions than it does to go through the story in Crisis Core, and most of them are honestly very boring, but the rewards from completing them are incredible.

Oh, and the game's original score is just bad.

Those are the heaviest flaws I can think of, but overall, I think the pros of Crisis Core definitely outweigh the cons, and it's a great game. Get it.

>>> I`d recommend Crisis Core only if you are a crazed and obsessed FF7 fan..
I really liked FF7 but even with that I just could stomach the game till I reached Shinra Mansion in Nibelheim..:luca:

I'm going to second black orbs recommendation that you should only play Crisis Core if you love FFVII shamelessly and actually like the Compilation. Its story is mostly a re-hash of VII's plot minus AVALANCHE and plus one of the wost villains to ever appear in a game with Final Fantasy in the title. The gameplay is also pretty boring compared to other action RPGs. Unless you're on hard mode, the game's main story is pathetically easy. I would rent it, or only buy it if its under $5 and used.

Final Fantasy Tactics: War of the Lions is really good. Its only faults is some slow down with some of the more grand special attacks, they removed the random spell casting quotes, and sadly a bulk of the best items and all the special equipment for the two new classes can only be obtained by playing with someone else in multiplayer mode. Everything else is awesome. The new translation, the animated cutscenes, and new scenarios are all really awesome.

Dissidia, get Duodecim. As HP noted, it comes with the entire story from Dissidia 1. In fact Duodecim is pretty much just a remake of the first game with new interface, rebalancing, and a new prologue with all the new characters starring in it. The majority of the game is the original Dissidia. The only thing I would warn about Dissidia is hat its plot is ridiculous, some characters seem to be changed from their original game incarnations. Its the shameless fanservice that is the real draw of the game, its pretty cool seeing all the references and in-jokes.

I will also second KH: Birth By Sleep, it is easily the best entry in the franchise in both story and gameplay. You don't need to have any pre-knowledge of the rest of the franchise to enjoy it as well.

Persona 3 Portable: If you've played the original P3, this game offers the new female MC mode which is pretty different from the original game with new characters and social links (plot is the same though). It also tries to merge elements from both P3 and P4, while it certainly doesn't have P3FES's solid gameplay mechanics, nor P4's robust social link/normal life gameplay mechanics, it does an outstanding job considering the PSPs limitations. If you haven't played P3 or P4, pick this bad boy up because I still consider it to be one of the best JRPGs released in the last five years, and probably the best in the last decade.

Beyond that, I can't say much, I don't own too many PSP games because there are not many that appeal to me (hell two of my recommendations are ports), and I still haven't even started Peace Walker and Tactics Ogre so I can't say for sure on those. Of anything, I would take advantage of the PSP's ability to download old PS1 hits and play them portable. Most of my "new" games I've picked up for the PSP have been Squaresoft's old hits from the PS1 days.

My only hold up with kingdom hearts is that i bought both for the ps2 expecting to really get into it but only made it about halfway through the first one before i got bored. Can i enjoy it without knowledge of the stories. And on that note, is it worth playing KH 2 having never finished the first?

THE JACKEL

Both God of War games.
Burnout
Metal Gear Solid Peace Walker


Great idea to buy only digital content by the way. Saves you some money when you switch to Vita.

the vita is doing a umd to data thing

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by ljkkjlcm9

My only hold up with kingdom hearts is that i bought both for the ps2 expecting to really get into it but only made it about halfway through the first one before i got bored. Can i enjoy it without knowledge of the stories. And on that note, is it worth playing KH 2 having never finished the first?

THE JACKEL

---

I'm probably not the right person to ask this, simply because I feel the console games are the weaker entries in the series. The better writing and more creative gameplay is in the handhelds imho. No, you don't need any pre-knowledge of the rest of the series to understand the plot. BBS does answer some long terms questions in the series, but they are not important to BBS plot. Honestly, BBS is pretty much a standalone title in the series since its a prequel to the main series.

I guess my question is to ask what you didn't care about KH to begin with, then I can answer whether it will work or not.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Hypoallergenic Cactuar

the vita is doing a umd to data thing

---

Yes, but you are still going to have to pay a small fee to do that, or so the rumors say.

I have the god of war games for the ps3 in the compilation... Platinumed both even! Lol

I think the Gameplay just stagnated and the story just didn't capture me. The characters weren't bad but i wouldn't say i loved them either. That and probably just the high expectations from so many people praising the series.

And yes, they have a umd conversion but it will cost money for the digital copy even if you have the umd. Better off getting the digital version if i can! It also keeps me hopeful that some of the games that aren't on the PSN will be when the vita is released.

THE JACKEL

KH1 focuses too much on the novelty of Disney meets Square in terms of plot. By the end of the game, something interesting does developed and that s what the rest of the series is more focused on. The actual original plot is pretty interesting if a bit convulated and sounds pretty silly on paper, once you get past that, it gets better. BBS just has the fortunate help of not needing all the baggage from other games to explain things, though it unfortunately raises more questions about the overall universe.

Gameplay has also improved with a better camera that makes platforming not seem like a chore and combat gets new tweaks and mechanics in each installment. In BBS case, your characters equip skills that can be toggled in a shortcut menu a la Crisis Core, but using certain skills in succession has a chance of making a character enter into special fighting modes. So using a lot of Fire magic or skills can make your character into a mode where they gain automatic fire elemental traits for their attacks and special combos and moves. Even in these modes, building long combos and using other skills/spells can unlock second and finally third tier combat modes that are ridiculously awesome to use and watch. So combat has some interesting flow that goes with it, and setting up your skills has more importance than just their basic function.

The game also offers three different characters to play as and all three actually do play differently. Ventus is speed, Terra is power, and Aqua is magic and they all get exclusive fighting modes, skills, spells, and Shotlocks. There is definetly more variety in combat and its actually pretty fun. As I said its the best gameplay in the series so far. If you're still hesitant, at least rent it and give all three characters a whirl.

I wish I had a third thumb to throw in with the two I'm already raising WAY up for Tactics Ogre. Can't recommend you get this enough, especially since it's only $20 and digitally. The game looks, sounds, and plays amazing. But if you like FFTactics, this cannot possibly let you down on the story and gameplay fronts, and IMO it's the better game with a tale larger in scope and better balanced combat. If you've played Ogre Battle there's also a couple returning characters as well as some very cool scenes with cameos that leave a grin on your face. The game has a branching plot that can be radically different based on your decisions, not only with the story, but the encounters you face. To top it off, the game has a convenient system to let you go back and take alternate routes. And on top of that, there's a lot of substantive side stories that expand on certain characters and aspects of the world, and each can, again, be radically different based on your decisions. When you see how the ending wraps up each and every choice you've made along this journey, including your failures, you just feel such a sense of accomplishment having seen this amazing work of art to its end. If all this wasn't enough, the game is flooded to the brim with side dungeons. Think Deep Dungeon. Except there's like 4 of them. And each one is uniquely designed with its own personality and back story. Like, a real significance for existing in this world.

Also just beat Valkyria Chronicles II a few days ago and if you liked the first one, you'll absolutely love this one. I'm still not entirely sure if it's the better game. It's perfectly paced with main missions, story events, side skirmishes, character development for the WHOLE roster, and versus battles. It's a very hard game to put down because you're going through all this in a well timed manner. It's very cool how it develops the side characters, because the more you use them in battles, the more side scenes you'll get with them, and unlocking a few side scenes will give you access to a unique mission for that character which is usually not only a unique challenge, but dramatically changes that characters outlook, or wraps up a loose end that's been haunting them forever. In some instances, you'll gain a bonus character which you'll also be able to do this with. With all this, the game very much continues the epic setting, personal storytelling, and fantastic music the first established. When it comes to gameplay, the maps are much smaller, where you go between different smaller areas of one map via the bases system. Eventually it does seem a little tight, even though some of these areas can be quite huge. And there's one chunk of the game 3/4s through where the combat won't be as challenging. But the challenges keep coming again shortly after. I don't know if the game is as consistently challenging as the first game. But it is still very good and is definitely an expansion on what VC1 established. Some things are improved, like promotion classes and how you unlock them. There's also a cool officer system and I think the vehicle options are much broader and more intuitive than they were in VC1.

Not sure if you like Metal Gear, but Peace Walker is just as fantastic as these two games. I can elaborate more if you're interested, just know they made a decent controlling shooter on the PSP and the story and gameplay are just as epic as Kojima is known for. Co-op Metal Gear is also more glorious than you could imagine it being.

Lastly, stay away from Assassin's Creed Revelations. I also feel like Crisis Core and Dissidia can be a waste of money unless you absolutely have to see what they're all about. I liked FFIV Complete Collection though.

Also, definitely recommend PS1 classics. FFVII-IX have never looked better than they do on the PSP. Tactics is awesome as well, and my preferred version. Xenogears was fun to play on PSP, more so than it is on an HDTV. Mega Man from PSOne Imports was a nice buy. I'm also looking out for Arc the Lad and hope Dragon Quest VII comes over.

So i have a $50 PSN card. I have decided to start with phantasy star portable 2 which is 15. The small dissidia game for 3 bucks, to see if i even like the Gameplay. Tactics: war of the lions... And one other 20 dollar game. Its between most likely tactics ogre or monster hunter.

Kingdom hearts bbs, crisis core, and both star oceans are not available digitally. Valkyria chronicles 2 is, but is currently 40 dollars.

THE JACKEL

Well I was gonna come in here and suggest Persona 3 Portable, but it looks like you've decided! Phantasy Star Portable 2 is pretty fun. Maybe I should pick it up again!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by ljkkjlcm9

So i have a $50 PSN card. I have decided to start with phantasy star portable 2 which is 15. The small dissidia game for 3 bucks, to see if i even like the Gameplay. Tactics: war of the lions... And one other 20 dollar game. Its between most likely tactics ogre or monster hunter.

Kingdom hearts bbs, crisis core, and both star oceans are not available digitally. Valkyria chronicles 2 is, but is currently 40 dollars.

THE JACKEL

---

Monster hunter is only 10 \

THE RABBET

Well i just checked PSN now, and monster hunter freedom unite is listed at $19.99

THE JACKEL

... they raised the price? okay my bad.

I wish it were still 10 bucks!

Anyways, apparently one of my friends has Valkyria chronicles 2, tactics ogre, and crisis core. So i will be borrowing those from him. In the end i feel its a good strong selection of games for me to start with!

And with the glorious price of memory sticks for the Vita, i will be holding off on it for a long while.

THE JACKEL